(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle wiper apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an intelligent wiper system that intelligently controls a wiper apparatus and a control method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A wiper apparatus of a vehicle removes foreign materials from a windshield such as snow, rain, and mist so as to provide better view to a driver. The construction and operation of conventional wiper system is generally well known. Such systems include a wiper switch, a controller, a wiper motor, a relay, and a washer motor. The wiper switch is a switch for selecting the wiper operation to a high speed Hi, a low speed Low, or an intermittent operation Int. The controller operates the wiper motor at a predetermined frequency when the wiper switch is selected to the intermittent operation Int. The relay is disposed between the controller and the wiper motor and performs a switching operation according to the intermittent operation control signal of the controller. The wiper motor operates according to the switching operations of the relay. When a washer fluid ejection is selected by the wiper switch, the washer motor ejects a washer fluid according to the control of the controller.
Such a conventional wiper system only operates under the condition that a second terminal IGN2 of an ignition switch remain at an on-position (i.e., the condition that an engine remains running, or in other word, the condition that the ignition switch is turned on).
A typical ignition switch provides several positions of an ignition key, such as, a lock position where the ignition key may be inserted or ejected, an ACC position where a few electric device of a vehicle can be used although the engine is stopped, an ignition-on position where the engine is maintained to run, and a START position where a starting motor is driven so as to start the engine. Hereinafter, the second terminal of the ignition switch implies a terminal thereof that corresponds to the ignition on position, and such an ignition switch having an ignition-on terminal is hereinafter called an ignition-on switch that senses whether the ignition key is turned to the ignition-on position. When it is said that the second terminal of the ignition switch is at an on-state, this implies that the ignition key is positioned to the ignition-on position, and such a state is also called a ignition-on state.
According to the conventional wiper system, the wiper is driven directly by the wiper switch, or driven by the controller. However, when the ignition-on switch is turned off (e.g., when the ignition key is turned to ACC or lock positions from the ignition-on position) while the wiper motor is operating, the power supplied to the wiper motor is cut off. In this case, the wiper stops its movement and cannot go back its home position.
That is, the wiper blade is not returned to the home position but stops on an arbitrary position on the windshield. In order to move the wiper at the arbitrary position on the windshield to the home position, the ignition-on switch should be turned on again, which causes inconvenience to a driver.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.